Increasing Pragmatic Competence Through Direct Instruction and STEAM Approaches

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: The Power of Language: Communication, Identity, and Student Choice

Abstract

The purpose of this year two action research study was to determine how students demonstrate pragmatic competence. Pragmatic competence is essential for students to acquire so that students can navigate both formal and informal conversation strategies. The participants included (n =13) middle school English as a Second Language (ESL) students and their teacher. The results revealed that middle school ESL students continued to differentiate between and rude and polite complaining and created two final project to showcase the differences using self-selected scenarios by creating social story video clips and Scratch created avatars that were engaged in conversation. The student participants also completed oral and written tasks that were scored using WIDA Speaking and Writing Interpretive Rubric.

Author

• Lisa Rose Johnson, The University of Alabama - Huntsville